In April, The Wall Street Journal reported that The US Department Of Justice would soon file a lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster due to their alleged joint monopoly over concert promotion. According to Bloomberg and The New York Times, the lawsuit is expected to be filed on Thursday, May 23, in the Southern District Of New York by the Department Of Justice and “a group of states.”
The New York Times relayed that the Department Of Justice is reportedly “accusing [Live Nation Entertainment] of illegally maintaining a monopoly in the live entertainment industry,” citing three unnamed sources. (Update: A lawsuit has officially been filed as of May 23, according to the Associated Press.)
“The government plans to argue in a lawsuit that Live Nation shored up its power through Ticketmaster’s exclusive ticketing contracts with concert venues, as well as the company’s dominance over concert tours and other businesses like venue management, said two of the people, who declined to be named because the lawsuit was still private,” The New York Times report continued. “That helped the company maintain a monopoly, raising prices and fees for consumers and limiting innovation in the ticket industry, the people said. The government will argue that tours promoted by the company were more likely to play venues where Ticketmaster was the exclusive ticket service, one of the people said, and that Live Nation’s artists played venues that it owns.”
Bloomberg additionally noted, “The move is the latest antitrust suit pursued by the Biden administration, which has made competition a key component of its economic policy, bringing cases against companies including Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Amazon.com Inc.”
This is far from the first time Ticketmaster has had legal troubles, but Ticketmaster’s reputation was really set ablaze with its gross mishandling of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour in late 2022, which earned a scathing statement from Swift, an investigation by the Department Of Justice, and a Senate Committee hearing.
